Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask
by Marie Allen
Summary: Hillwood's superhero duo are just your average high schoolers. (Was one shot).
1. The Reveal

AN: The names were created from the Superhero Generator. I used their actual names, but wasn't happy with the results, so actually switched their last names. Thought these were more appropriate (including their backstories, LOL). Also, this is inspired by the "new" Nick show, "Miraculous Ladybug." It recently aired in the US, but originally showed in France, then Korea. Check it out if you haven't already. And if you had, you'll immediately notice things I have pulled from it. The name-pulling, though, is completely coincidental. Otherwise, I've pulled a lot of typical stuff from it that, if you're a fan of both shows, you'll immediately recognize.

Originally, this was going to be a drabble in "Those Instances" but it's turned out too long.

Rated Teen for language.

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AN 2: Yikes! I thought I posted this _ages_ ago! As in, around Christmas/New Years. So when I stumbled upon alicethekillerpainter's image on Tumblr (which is cute, btw, so go check it out), I remembered about it and, ugh! I'm an idiot.

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 **Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask  
Chapter 1: The Reveal**

If anyone were to ask what Helga Pataki would be doing that Saturday night, she definitely would not have told them she was swinging from building to building by a piece of leather that served as her tail, trailing behind her crime-fighting partner. Nope, she definitely wasn't sneaking out of her room at nine o'clock at night to fight some baddie that was set out to terrorize the people of Hillwood City. Not that anyone would have asked, but she definitely would have said she was at home, reading. Definitely.

Actually, no, she would have told them to fuck off, but technicalities.

She never would have admitted she was one of two Hillwood superheroes: Madame Claw.

It had happened one afternoon about four years ago during the summer before her freshman year in high school. What she thought was a wounded kitten in an alley ended up being an ancient sprite that could give her magical powers. At first, it was pretty awesome. What wasn't there to like? Kickass leather outfit, all black with accents of dark pink, a mask that was fused to her skin so as not to accidentally fall off during battle, the handy ability to channel into her inner cat and communicate with other felines, and, of course, her fighting power: cat scratch fever. Yeah, lame and cliche, but one swipe was effective enough to take down even the toughest opponent.

Her partner, The Mirror Mask, was pretty kickass too, if she did say so herself. He had the ability to manipulate and even control reflections. Even just a smidgen of a reflection allowed him to create an illusion and, as discovered last year, to transport himself from one area to another. That had taken them both by surprise and Helga still had the scar to prove that distraction.

They didn't know their identities, instead having preferred to be quiet about it at the beginning for one reason or another. Over time it became habit to dodge out of each other's way when their transformation began to lose its hold, their sprites only able to keep up the powers for so long, that they just fell into a routine. The magic provided by their sprites that kept them transformed also messed with their senses, changing their voices just slightly and making their overall appearance slightly hazy. Even in pictures, Helga had a hard time really looking at Mask to see if she could possibly know the boy that was her partner.

Tonight's baddie had been easy to defeat, having turned into a momentary villain by the ultimate Big Bad, Dark Matter. As they normally do, once he was turned back to his civilian form, he had walked home in disorientation, wondering how he had gone from the Civic Center to the park, leaving the two superheroes to bolt off together in the opposite direction.

But they didn't go too far, stopping their retreat on top of the Clock Tower. It was just after ten and those that had not been chased by the latest nuisance were oblivious to what had just happened. Not that the city had anything to worry about with the super duo around.

Madame Claw retracted her tail, allowing it to fall back to its normal length, while Mask stretched. Once he had figured out his teleportation, he tended to use that more often than running, but tonight had been an exception. The moonless night probably had something to do with it.

"That was probably the easiest one we've taken down. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but you'd think Dark Matter would be throwing us curve balls by now." And, really, she wasn't complaining, but it just seemed too...convenient. Going by the name of ''Popinator", he threw popcorn smoke bombs. And that was it. It made people cough but it didn't turn them into any sort of lackeys or do any damage whatsoever. What's the deal? They didn't have anything this easy even going back to the start, four years ago. Dark Matter's mission was to take over the city but in the four years since the three of them have been battling, he had not had one successful flight. Good always dominated.

"Or maybe it's because you're just so _fur-_ ierce." Mask was a good guy, she adored him way more than she wished she did, but if there was one thing she hated, it was the puns. Always with the puns... "We were way _butter_ than him, even on a bad day." Yet, no matter how stupid the puns were, there was always that hint of pride in his deep voice. Mask could get away with so much more than anyone else could with her, or ever had.

Claw just gave him a droll look but couldn't help the little flutter of her heart as she took in his obvious pleasure. The boy was too cute for his own good, sometimes, and always had her back. He had never failed her and, likewise, she had never failed him. Even though she didn't know his real name, she could easily say he was one of her dearest friends. And, because she was feeling a bit generous tonight, she decided to give in. Just once she'd play his game.

"You're _paw-_ sitively _corny_ , Lotte. _"_ Back when they had first been introduced, Helga had immediately thought of _The Phantom of the Opera._ Seriously...the dude's name was The Mirror Mask! At first she had teased him, calling him Phantom and Erik, and after one or three other jokes, she had settled on calling him Little Lotte. This particularly came about after she had come across the true meaning of Little Lotte and its origin as an early turn-of-the-century parlor game.

He blinked at her in surprise, wondering if he had heard correctly. She never made a pun and yet she had just laid a two-bomber on him. His infectious, delighted grin widened and he opened his mouth to respond, but she continued before he could start, trying to stay on topic and only slightly fought a smile of her own. "Maybe Dark Matter is trying to save up his muscle by thinking we're annihilating his minions. Then when he does give us what he's got saved up, we won't be prepared." She frowned at her spoken thought and rubbed her chin. "Maybe we should start training. If that is the case, then we really need to be prepared for it."

Claw heard him move and didn't fight him when he took her free hand in his and placed a soft kiss on top. "You worry too much, _Chasca._ But you really don't need to find an excuse to be with me. All you have to do is name the place and time, and your devoted Mask will be there." His grin was wider than before and although his eyes were completely black, she could see them flash with delight. She just rolled her eyes and pulled her hand back. His flirting had increased the last couple of months and while she never encouraged the remarks, she never stopped them, either. As a writer, she could never shy away from pretty words. And Helga was never shy.

"This is serious, Mask-"

"I'm always serious when it comes to you, Chasca _._ " She fought and failed against the turning of her lips and simply pushed him away. Although he had always been a somewhat smooth talker, he had progressively gotten worse with his silver tongue over the last two years. It had been infuriating at first, but now it was somewhat endearing. Claw folded her arms across her chest and cocked her hip, letting him know that she wasn't playing anymore; not that it would stop him.

"So you're telling me you _don't_ think that he's doing this on purpose."

Mask looked to the side, a smirk lighting up on his face as his hand twisted in the air lazily above his head. "Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, all we can do is contemplate." His hooded eyes regarded her. "If it means we have to _stalk_ him day in and day out, I'm all _ears_ for what you obviously have to say, Chasca."

Even with all his laid-back attitude, The Mirror Mask did know when to switch into hero mode.

Even though she was not nearly in love with Arnold as much as she had been (years of forced separation because of different classes and little time to stalk had somehow diminished her obsession with the boy), she refused to admit that Mask had somehow wormed his way into a part of her heart, too. In fact, she refused to acknowledge that he may have more of it than she had originally realized, but if she didn't think too much about it, then it wasn't so. At least, that's what she tried to convince herself.

* * *

Helga frowned deeply as she pinched the spot between her eyes, frustrated that the group was getting so off topic and that she had to be at Arnold's house so early in the morning on a Saturday to work on a group report for their midterm. It was the first and only shared class they had since ninth grade. Once she and Mask had parted ways the evening before, she had gone home and stayed up late working out potential training methods and various different scenarios. She was not going to take a chance to be taken by surprise.

Not realizing she was mumbling and growling out her annoyance, Arnold looked over to the third member of their little group. "Gerald, go grab the popcorn, will ya? And you _butter_ hurry up, Helga is going to _pop."_ Gerald left the room with a groan and a snickering Arnold behind.

Helga immediately froze, replaying the words that were spoken so care-free over in her mind. Slowly, her hand released the bridge of her nose and she stared at him, her face a blank mask. "What did you just say, Football Head?" Her voice was thick and low, and she could see a moment of uncertainty flash over. Although she hadn't harassed him since middle school, she had no doubt that her threats of pounding him were ingrained deep into his subconscious.

"Um..." He forced out a smile but didn't repeat himself and Helga could only assume it was because he thought she was pissed about his "pop" comment.

She continued to stare at him, although he was no longer looking at her and instead was buried deep into, what she assumed, was a research book she had picked up from the public library. Even though she had been thinking about Mask a lot more than usual, wondering what he would really be like in civilian form, she never in a million years would have compared him to Arnold until that pun. If it hadn't been the fact that corn jokes had been cracked by Mask the night before, she would have just ignored it. Arnold was so quiet and stumbled over his words from time-to-time. He was busy with school stuff and sports. And he was anything but flirty. She scoffed aloud at the ridiculous thought, convinced she was grasping at straws.

Gerald dropped the large bowl of popcorn on the table, bits of the snack bouncing out and onto their scattered papers and books. The three had teamed up for their AP ancient history assignment of...something. Helga really hadn't been paying too much attention when the guys had voted for something, but knew that they had to choose a civilization. For what purpose, though, she had no idea.

"Instead of wasting time looking at this crap, let's just do Egypt and write about that King Scorpion dude. Like The Rock's movie." Gerald stuffed some of the popcorn into his mouth as he spoke but Helga didn't didn't bother reprimanding him. She wasn't his mother and he wasn't ruining anything of hers with the earlier mess.

Arnold, obviously have shaken off Helga's anger, frowned at him. "Everyone is probably going to do something on Egyptian or Mesopotamian... Let's do Incan and Aztec. Not many people write about them, so we'll stand out because it'll be different."

"Great idea, Arnold-o," Helga scoffed. "Let's do a report on one of the least-known ancient societies. It'll be brimming with information and we won't have to spend that much time researching. Good thing, too, since it's due in two days."

Arnold, used to Helga's crass attitude, just grinned. "No need to be so sarcastic. I actually have a ton of books on it so it wouldn't really be that much work trying to put everything together." He showed her the book he had been reading and she was surprised to see that it was not one of the books she brought, but one on South American deities. "And you know we'll get kudos from Mr. White for doing something different. I was thinking we could do Feminism in Incan and Aztec society, starting with how they view their goddesses."

Helga lifted an eyebrow at him and Gerald nodded in agreement, still munching away. "Interesting choice. Kind of weird to go Incan, but I guess I can get on board with that."

"Great!" Before she knew it, he was handing her the book in his hand. "Here, Helga. You can read up on Chalchiuhtlicue."

She just balked, looking down at the book. "Charlie-who-what-now?"

"Chalchiuhtlicue. She's an Aztec goddess and is pretty violent. You'll like her."

Helga just hummed as Arnold assigned Gerald a goddess, not exactly upset about his forcing this one on her. If Arnold knew about these goddesses, she wasn't about to waste time trying to re-invent the wheel. She would have chosen this Charlie goddess anyway.

It didn't take long for the three of them to get lost in the various different ancient goddesses, which led them to the known-life accounts for the two different societies.

Before they knew it, it was lunch time and they were ready for real food. Gerald, never one for reading too long, volunteered to pick up some subs and left in a flurry of flying money and a random assortment of Boarding House animals.

Helga was quiet for only a minute after Gerald's departure before dropping the thick book that could rival any coffee table monstrosity on the floor next to her. "Ok, tell me what you've got. All these weird names are making be cross-eyed." Give her ancient Greek and she could pronounce them just fine. But Ancient Aztec or Mayan or whatever was a completely different ballgame.

Standing and stretching, Helga made to grab for her notebook, thinking instead she'll write for a bit.

"What do you want to know?" Arnold was lounging on the couch, one foot up on the cushion with a bent leg and the other stretched out in front of him. He looked like the epitome of chill and relaxed and Helga had to scowl at him to keep her traitorous butterflies from fluttering in her stomach. She had been over this for years!

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe something to give me mind-reading powers so I can figure out what you've just read so I can start putting down notes and make comparisons to Charlie-whats-it."

Arnold responded with a sigh and sat up, putting the book down on the coffee table she was sitting at, but not quite next to her, causing her to crane her neck to look at what he was pointing at. "This is Chasca." Helga whipped her head so fast towards the football-headed boy that she almost had whiplash. _Chasca_?

Arnold continued looking at the picture of the golden-hair goddess on the open page. "You can think of her like the Incan version of Aphrodite, but she's really more than just that." At that point, Arnold could have told her that this chick could have caused the demise of the dinosaurs and Helga wouldn't have heard a damn word. Instead, her vision tapered onto him, blocking out any and everything else. Her heart began to pound hard against her chest and there was just no way. No _fucking way._

There must have been some odd expression on her face because Arnold stopped talking and was looking at her with concern. "Are you ok?"

Helga shook her head and pushed slightly back from the table as she tried to straighten out her thoughts. So what if he had made a comment earlier that was too much like Mask and now was wanting to do a report on the same name as what Mask called her. Because, really, there had to be tons of different explanations. It was also very possible that the names were similar. Or...maybe Mask was just a fan of _Mass Effect._ The fact was, she never did ask what Chasca really meant. She felt foolish about her ignorance now.

"Oh...kay..." Arnold regarded her again before pushing the book closer to her. "Maybe you'd be better off reading about her instead of me explaining...?" He was pushing the book closer to her when she suddenly caught sight of just how muscular his left arm was.

Lots of lean muscle that _tons_ of high school athletes have.

Helga rolled her eyes and grabbed the book off the table, needing some sort of distraction from the boy next to her. But, no sooner had she touched the book when she noticed a scar on the top of his lower arm that still looked relatively fresh. As she did a double take, she realized that the sides were pinched and it looked suspiciously like a burn mark.

And it curved to the side, as if he had been hit with a fire whip while crossing his arms over his face just after he had jumped in front of Claw during a particularly nasty Dark Matter minion.

Before she could stop herself, she commented on it. "How'd you get _that_?" So it wasn't elegantly put...but if Helga was anything, it was blunt.

Arnold snatched his arm away from her view and covered the area with his hand. She looked up at him, he still sitting on the couch and she on the floor in front of the old coffee table. An eyebrow lifted, waiting for an answer and her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in his sudden nervousness.

"It's a rope burn."

She couldn't help but snort at that obviously lie of a response. " _Rope_ burn? What, are you into kinky shit or something?"

If she wasn't on edge herself, she would have laughed at his bright-red face and stammering defense. "It was in gym class!"

Helga hummed and continued to stare at him for a moment, wondering if this was a road she really wanted to go down. She could call him out on it and find out if he really was her partner-behind-the-mask, or if it was a truly innocent, school-received wound. And if she did discover Arnold Shortman, the boy she had pined over since she was three-years-old, the kid who had made her childhood so incredibly miserable and wonderful, the one whom she thought was the _only one_ up until she was twelve, was her crazy, absurd, incredible, and audacious superhero comrade...well...she wouldn't know what she'd do.

But she did know she was going to obsess over this; it was in her obsessive nature to twist and turn things, thinking of every outcome imaginable and freak out about every single one. So she could go home and grow an ulcer, avoiding both boys for all of next week, or get it straightened right now and sleep (hopefully) peaceful tonight. Because there was no way that Arnold was Mask. So, before she realized exactly what she was doing, she found herself sitting next to him on the couch, moving his hair away from his left temple. He flinched but didn't pull away and she didn't make any attempt to look at him. She didn't doubt that he thought she was crazy right now.

Claw had made a stupid mistake three years ago, which had resulted in her getting hit in the head and momentarily knocked out just as she was jumping between two buildings. If it hadn't been for Mask jumping out and catching her, she would have been a flat cat. He had landed on his side, scraping his temple on a protruding piece of concrete which had resulted in a distinguished scar in the shape of a heart. In true Helga fashion, Claw had poked fun at the scar numerous times. If she hadn't, the guilt would have been too great since she was the cause of it. After all, it was very unique.

Yet, somehow, behind somewhat longish golden hair, the same color as Mask's, Arnold had a very, very, _very_ similar one in the exact spot.

Dammit!

She couldn't help the wave of immense feelings wash over her, causing her skin to crawl and her stomach to flip. Her throat constricted tightly and she couldn't do anything except stare at him, looking for any little physical thing that could be proof enough to confirm he was not Mask. But the more she looked, the more the fog lifted and she could really, truly _see_ Mask. It was like she had been wearing beer goggles for the last four years and suddenly the haze was gone. And she just knew.

Helga unconsciously licked her lips and stared at him looking back at her as if she had lost her mind. But even though there was evidence staring straight back at her, she still wasn't sure. It couldn't be just some sick coincidence but she had to be sure. And so, she slipped out the one word that she knew that would separate Arnold from her Mask. "Lotte." It came out as a choked whisper and surprised her almost as much as it did him.

He recoiled back as if he had been punched, almost falling off the side of the couch. Helga stared at him, intensely alert of even the most minute change in expression. The confused, then shocked displays were almost humorous, and she would have laughed if she had any control over her body because she was watching him go through what she herself had felt just moments ago.

But then he gave her the widest grin she had ever seen on him before. She couldn't stop the shiver of irony run down her spine, because she had been privy to that exact expression many times before. Only, it hadn't been on Arnold, and now that she could _see_ him, it was like a slap in the face. He leaned slightly towards her - he could finally _see_ her, too - and and raised an eyebrow that was just so _Mask_ , flashing his shit-eating grin wider. "Chasca..."

 _Fuck_.

She was so, so screwed.

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Be sure to check out _ShortakiWeek_ on Tumblr: Arnold and Helga appreciation week coming soon in July 2016!


	2. The Aftermath

**Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask  
Chapter 2: The Aftermath**

It had all been a blur after Arnold confirmed he was her masked partner, but she did remember the urgency she felt of not being able to get out of the boarding house fast enough. She had grabbed her bag and bolted out faster than she could formulate a response. _Holy shit_ , Arnold was The Mirror Mask? _Arnold?_ When had she fallen into this _Twilight Zone_ episode and how was she supposed to wake up?

Gerald had sent a text along the lines of hoping she felt better, but she couldn't really recall exactly; it had been Arnold's obvious cover as to why she had bailed on them and missed out on those yummy subs. Nor could she figure out if it had really been her that had written five pages towards their report, because if someone were to ask her anything about those cultures, let alone how they viewed women, she wouldn't have been able to tell them shit.

Yet, when she had gone to school on Monday, Gerald had freaked out on her in response to her email from the night before, wondering how she had been able to do the research and knock out that much when he himself had just finished reading the first book.

She just brushed him off, telling him that she obviously was a natural at research.

School…what a nightmare that had been so far. Despite their shared classes, she had avoided Arnold like the plague. As soon as the bell rang, she bolted out of class. She took her lunch alone these last few days and in different places because, dammit, the football-headed dweeb was actually looking for her.

She avoided Mask during Tuesday and Wednesday night's patrol, too, instead keeping to the ground rather than the roofs that they were usually so fond of.

In fact, she was doing pretty well for herself…until last night with the two insignificant minions. The first had been so quick and easy to get rid of; she had been able to defeat him before Mask had even shown up. The second had been just as easy but because she was so worried about trying not to get anywhere close to Mask, she had almost royally screwed up. Before Mask could corner her, she had taken off.

And now it was Friday in the last class of the day. Helga couldn't wait to get out of there, especially since she shared it with Arnold. Then she could hole up in her room until she was needed. _If_ she was needed. Besides that mess up the night before, there hadn't been much happening around town.

However, as much as he had tried getting her to talk to him the last few days, he hadn't even looked at her today. They had one other shared class earlier in the day and she had been too busy trying to ignore him that she didn't realize it until he sat down in his desk in front of her. No comments, no pleas or passed notes; he just sat and prepared for the class. Surely he wasn't _actually_ mad at her? She just needed time to process all of this. She wasn't like him and didn't need to talk things out. She preferred to internalize.

It was small group discussion time about last night's reading, but she ignored everyone in favor of trying to actually do the reading that had been assigned. Normally she wasn't so flaky in her classes but she had genuinely forgotten about it. This avoiding thing was really taking its toll on her.

"Did you see the news this morning?" It was Claire speaking to Arnold. Even if they were supposed to be discussing the reading, it wasn't uncommon to talk about other things.

"About what?" Helga unconsciously perked up when Arnold responded. So he would talk to Claire instead of her, huh? So what if she had been ignoring and avoiding him all week? He was her partner and he should know that she needed to keep him at a distance but, dammit, he shouldn't ignore her! So what if that's what she'd been pretty much asked for these last few days?

"About Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask. It was kind of weird."

"What was weird?" interjected Gerald. It actually kind of freaked her out, but Gerald was a total fanboy for Claw. Not that she would have ever brought the superheroes up in front of anyone, but she always steered clear of conversation of Claw and Mask when Gerald was involved.

"The footage that they showed from last night. Madame Claw almost fell off the building and then she just left without checking on anyone or anything like she normally does. I hope she didn't get hurt."

Gerald nodded at Claire's observation. "Oh, yeah, something was definitely up with her. Like her head wasn't in the game."

Helga continued to look down at the pages, but wasn't actually reading anything. Truthfully, she was a bit surprised that Gerald and Claire had paid that enough attention. Not to mention she was almost touched at their concern. To be fair, she didn't do it for the fame and glory – it was pretty much a requirement on her end. And even if she couldn't really accept praise (thanks a lot Bob and Miriam for that screw up), it was nice to hear her peers talk about her in a positive light.

"Do you think they're having a lover's quarrel?"

She instantly thought she heard a violin screeching. _A WHAT now?_

Gerald sputtered. "What! No way! They're totally not together, Claire! I can't believe you're one of _those_ people! Not to mention that she'd never go for a dork like Mask."

Helga sunk lower in her seat and held up the book to cover her warming face. She couldn't believe they were talking like that. And ha! _If only you knew, Gerald._ Helga couldn't help but snicker at the thought of what Gerald would say or do if he ever found out that Arnold was Mask.

Crap, now she was thinking of _The Reveal_. Her stomach fell.

"What are you talking about, Gerald? It's completely obvious that they care for each other."

"Care, yeah, I can see that; they're partners. But there's no way they're dating," he argued.

Claire rolled her eyes to Arnold as she responded to Gerald. "You boys are all alike; absolutely blind to the truth of love."

"I never said I agreed with Gerald."

Helga gripped her book. _Don't you dare, Football Head._

"You don't?" responded both his best friend and Claire in sync. Helga gripped her book tighter and narrowed her eyes at a random spot on the page, wishing she could shoot daggers to the boy in front of her instead.

"Yeah. In fact, I don't just _think_ they're dating, I know they are."

There was a squeak but Helga couldn't honestly say if it was her or Claire. Her book dropped to the desk and she could feel the color that had been starting to show immediately drop down to a level that would make Snow White envious. "What!"

"Seriously, Arnold?" Claire was grinning and practically bouncing on the edge of her seat. "How do you know?"

Helga could only see half of his face, grinning that idiotic way he did when he was about to get cocky (seriously, how the hell did she not see it before?) and he didn't miss a beat. "I've seen them a couple of times while they're out patrolling since I typically hang out on my roof. Besides, a blind man can see how in sync they are with each other. How could they not be together?"

"Oh my god, Arnold, you are so full of shit." Three pairs of eyes landed on her: two round in surprise and one hooded in obvious challenge. Damn, had she really said that? Well, no turning back now. "Stop gossiping about stuff you don't know."

"Why Helga," he began, a puckish smile forming on his perfect face, "I didn't realize you cared so much about the topic. You're usually not interested in the lives of our superheroes."

"I can't stand rumors," she snapped. "And while normally I would stay out of this crap, I have a civil duty to stop it from spreading before it gets out of hand. Besides, shouldn't we be discussing last night's reading?"

Arnold shifted in his chair and rested his arm on her desk. "Why does it matter what people think? It's not harming anyone."

"Yet!" She shoved his arm off and he promptly put it back. "Before you know it, the whole town is going to act crazy. They're going to start interfering with their battles and getting hurt. I don't need my tax dollars paying for the ignorant's hospital bills!" She tried to shove it off again but he held firm. Damn, his arms really were solid. Not that she hadn't noticed on Mask before. All those times he had caught her, hugged her...

"You don't work, Helga." Helga scowled out of her revelry.

"Every time I buy an ice cream or coffee, I'm paying taxes, _Football Head_. I'm a contributing member to society."

"So what are your reasons for thinking they're not together?" As much as she knew Mask, Mask knew her. And to make it worse, Arnold knew Helga. It was obvious to him that she was trying to distract him with another argument and he hadn't taken the bait.

She rolled her eyes and leaned back against her seat, folding her arms across her chest. "Tons of crap. It's almost impossible to hide a relationship. People make too many mistakes when they try and Claw and Mask haven't made any of those mistakes."

Arnold's ever-widening smile made her blood boil. "Enlighten us."

She glared at him. "For one, they never touch each other."

"Oh, I have to disagree with you there, Helga." It was Claire again. Helga was momentarily startled that she was still there, having almost forgotten about her and Gerald.

"And I agree with you, Claire," was Arnold's response but continued to look at Helga. "They touch all the time. Claw is always doing that hair ruffle thing to Mask," (she does?) "he's always holding her a little bit longer than he probably should when he catches her or pulls her to safety in one dashing move or another," (Oh, god, she was instantly reminded of all the times Arnold seemed to mancrush on Mask. It made _so much more sense now! Seriously, Mask, how narcissistic can you be?_ ), "they high-five, push each other around-"

"They seem to always be holding hands!" Interrupted Claire. "And what about The Kiss?" she giggled.

Helga groaned and rubbed her forehead with her left hand. "It wasn't a kiss, Claire. It was obviously photoshopped." Of course she would be referring to that stupid tabloid picture that popped up a couple of months ago. It had taken weeks for that to die down, even if it was blatantly altered.

"No, no. Not that one. When The Mirror Mask was attacked by The Galloping Knight." Oh. That had been a super nasty fight. But there hadn't been anything remotely close to what could have been assumed as a kiss. Helga frowned, trying hard to remember the play-by-play.

"Oooh, riiight!" Arnold was grinning at her again. "He was cornered, probably thinking he was on his final _lance_ when Knight stabbed him just as Claw swooped in. If I recall correctly, which I most certainly do, she fought particularly harder than normal."

Helga scoffed. "That proves nothing. Her partner was hurt. Of course she had to save his tail." Arnold's grin widened even more and she suddenly realized the pun. Helga flushed and slammed her hand on the desk, completely ignoring her stunned classmates. "Dammit, that doesn't count! It wasn't intentional!"

He didn't respond to her outburst but she knew just how giddy he was over that. Dammit.

"So he's laying there, bleeding, and Claw defeats the minion. She rushes to his side, perhaps thinking he's dead…" he trails off, his grin still wide, instantly knowing she would remember what happened next.

That wasn't fair, though. She really thought he had been injured pretty bad. So what if her emotions got the better of her _that one time_? It had been scary, thinking that he had been seriously hurt. And there had been so much blood. It had been a no brainer for her to rush back to him, to make sure the minion hadn't punctured something important. And _of course_ she had been relieved to find out he was ok and, still emotionally charged, she had hugged him and kissed his cheek.

Her face warmed a touch more, but she brushed it off with a roll of her eyes. "A kiss on the cheek means nothing. Especially after that kind of fight."

"Yeah. Timberly kisses me all the time, especially when she thinks I get hurt," Gerald finally contributed, insinuating about his sports games.

"Claw and Mask aren't siblings, though." Helga paused a moment when Gerald gave her a 'are you kidding me? I thought you were on my side!' look and mentally kicked herself for giving more fuel to Arnold and Claire. She should have just kept her big mouth shut from the beginning. "Anyway," she continued, hoping to correct her error, "friends always give cheek kisses. That screams friendship, not dating."

Arnold couldn't have been happier if he was a pig in mud and he had the laugh to show it. She glared at him again for good measure. "See, Helga? You're on the MirrorClaw ship whether you realize it or not."

"Shove it, football face. They are not together. Never have been nor will they ever be. They have a strictly business relationship and that is all it will ever be. She respects him too much."

Her face, once again, turned a shade of pink at that slip up, especially since his grin got even wider with a raise of an eyebrow that was elegantly arched up. She could just feel his arrogance oozing off of him in waves, the jerk.

"You guys are crazy." Although she heard Gerald, she continued to glare at Arnold as he grinned back at her. "I can't believe we're even talking about this. Arnold, I love you bro, but you're whack to think anything will ever come of your shipper fantasy."

Arnold turned to smirk at his best friend. "So you can have a go with her? And ruin your chance with a certain someone else?"

Any other time, Helga would have given Gerald a hard time about how his face turned redder than the shirt he was wearing, but the bell rang and Helga had to get out of there. Even if they had a têt-à-têt just a moment ago, she really didn't want to have to deal with Arnold alone.

Not even bothering with putting her book away, Helga grabbed her bag with her other free hand and ran out.

In fact, she ran all the way home, not even stopping at her locker or to walk with Phoebe to the bus stop. She'd text an apology later. The most important thing is to get away from school. And it looks like it was a good thing she had ran because she beat the bus by a good twenty minutes.

With Bob gone until dinner and Miriam suspiciously, but blessedly absent, Helga leapt up the stairs with ease and ran to her room. Success! It was officially the weekend! No more dodging Arnold in the hallways and classes, no more sitting on edge whenever she spotted him coming towards her, and no confrontation. Now if only she could get through the weekend without seeing Mask and –

Helga let out a started scream as she skidded to a stop at her doorway. There, standing in the middle of her room with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face was none other than the football-headed jerk himself.

She slammed the door behind her and barely reminded herself to gently put down her bag as her beloved sprite was hiding out in there, the very being that made her Madame Claw. "What are you doing in my room?" she yelled, advancing onto him. "In fact, how did you even get in here? And how did you beat me from school?"

Still scowling, he pointed to her mirror. She kept herself from smacking her forehead, not believing he had used his powers to get the upper hand.

 _Oh, shit, he could have done that all week…_

She'd think about it later.

"You've been avoiding me."

She scoffed. "You're imagining things. Now get out of here."

"No. Not until we talk."

"There's nothing to talk about!"

He frowned and lowered his arms. "Why are you so upset that I'm Mask? Do you hate me _that_ much?"

Helga was taken aback by that, wondering where he had put that together. Besides the typical insults and teasing here and there, she and Arnold had actually gotten along pretty well in high school. They were civil in the worst of times and almost pals in the best. Not in the level of hey-I'm-bored-let's-hang-out type, but if they saw each other alone while they were out, which was pretty frequent, they would keep company for a bit.

"What? I don't hate you."

"Then why are you angry?"

"Why aren't you?" she cried, throwing her arms up in the air. "There are so many things wrong with this. First of all, we were never supposed to know each other's identity, let alone actually know each other in civilian form. Do you know how dangerous this is now?"

"So…you're upset because of that and not because it's me?" The relief that showed on his face and in his tone took Helga by surprise and stopped her retort. To be honest, she had been so consumed with the fact that _Mask was Arnold_ that she hadn't really thought about Arnold being Mask. And what freaked her out the most was that she had just started to accept her feelings for Mask and, low and behold, he turns out to be the one other guy she had ever had feelings for. And that was putting it lightly.

It was for purely selfish reasons why she had freaked out. And she was still uncomfortable with it: her getting over Arnold, Mask constantly making his feelings known for Claw, her new feelings for Mask, finding out that both boys were one and the same…it had just been too much. And if she didn't let go of that, her own insecurities would have taken over and crush her.

Helga wasn't Claw. Helga was crass, rude, tomboyish, and definitely not someone anyone would want to be with. In fact, she had been so sure that if Mask would ever find out who she really was, he would be so disgusted with himself that he would bail out on her and hang up his superhero gig for good just to get away from her.

And now that this confrontation was happening, her fears were surely about to become reality: she was going to lose him.

But, then he had asked if _she_ had been upset that it was _him._ The anger that she had lashed out towards him just moments ago drained, sucking out most of her energy.

"Of course I'm not upset it's you, Arnold. Yeah, I was surprised, just as you were, but…it's just..."

She couldn't continue and looked away, not wanting to show any weakness in front of him. She had only shown Mask insecurity a couple of times, and those had been in moments of weakness for both of them, but right now she was in front of Arnold. It was still weird.

Arnold reached out and took a hold of her left hand. It had been scratching her arm, as she was wont to do when she was nervous, and she looked back up at him with a frown. There was that familiar twinkle in his eyes as he gave her a crooked grin and squeezed her hand.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Helga. If I wanted revenge against you for all the years of torment, I would have done that when I first discovered my powers."

She blinked up at him, confused at first before rolling her eyes and punching him in his shoulder, freeing her hand from his grasp. She was relieved that he had taken the comedic way out of that instead of getting her upset with trying to talk. He really did know her.

"Yeah, right. You're a goody-goody both in and out of the mask, Arnoldo. There's no away you could beat me up, anyway. I'd kick your butt any time, any where."

"Is that a promise?"

Helga brushed passed him with a roll of her eyes, heading to her closet (which had thankfully be sans shrines for years now), and hung up her jacket. "Call it whatever you want, Lotte, it's all the same to me."

When she turned back to him with a smirk, closing the closet behind her, she was taken aback by the look on his face. It wasn't something that she could immediately identify because she had never seen it on Arnold before. Maybe…tenderness?

"For the record, Helga, I'm glad you're Claw. I feel stupid and blind for not seeing it before, but out of all the girls I know, I'm glad you're her."

It didn't go unnoticed by Helga that he had referred to her being Claw and not Claw being her. It was telling and it hit something deep inside, causing her stomach to do a funny flop. "Oh yeah? Was that before or after you blew chunks realizing that you'd been flirting with the devil?" She smirked, feeling a stab in her gut. She took his cue from earlier and stuck with humor even though she knew that any minute now he was going to do a one-eighty and reveal just how disgusted he was and leave her, even if it would be out of character for either of his identities.

He chuckled at her instead, prompting a frown from her. "Are you kidding? I couldn't have asked for a better person or partner than you."

"What?"

He flashed her a genuine smile and stepped towards her, but not enough to close the distance. She mentally applauded his instincts because if he had come any closer, she would have struck out. She was tightly on guard, ready to spring again, especially since she was cornered in her room. If there was one thing she couldn't do, it was handle any sort of praise.

"I'm glad it's you because if it had been anyone else, they wouldn't be able to handle both worlds. You're strong, smart, funny when you're not trying to act like a bitch –"

"Hey!"

He grinned wider. "You aren't the same bully-in-hiding that you used to be when you were a kid. You've always had a good side to you and you were always so afraid to show it. You're actually pretty compassionate when you want to be. I feel like now you finally get to be the person who you've always been inside. I've always known she was in there and she's finally been coming out these last few years." That was true, at least. He had been telling her that she was good since the first grade and she had been pretty chill since freshman year. Even more so since she became Madame Claw. Maybe it was because the long nights were making her too tired to be a brat to everyone like the years prior. "We all get to see who Helga Pataki really is; the one I've always known about.

"And then with Claw… Hillwood gets a superhero and a positive, female role model to kids. Which," he cut her off when she was about to protest, "is very much the case, Helga. Whether you want to admit it or not, she's done a lot of good for this town. And there aren't a lot of good, female superheroes out there. They're all guys."

"They're all in movies and books, too, Football Head…" she trailed off, instantly regretting what she said as it just helped to prove his point. She hated when she did that and it happened almost too often.

It seemed as if he was expecting it, because his grin was triumphant. She rolled her eyes away from him and glanced towards her bookshelf to keep from looking up at him.

Really, she didn't know what to say. While Arnold had always insisted she was good growing up, she didn't realize how deeply he believed that until now. He always looked on the bright side of things but to see it in her was just crazy. And even if what he did say made sense to her, especially with the positive things about Claw, it was still hard for her to accept it. She was mean ol' Helga deep down. Not this great thing he obviously believed her to be.

But even despite that, she knew that he saw her for who she was, and not some unattainable figure that she joked with Mask about whenever he flirted with her.

Oh god…how could he want to stay with her knowing who she really was?

"Helga." She looked up at him, blinking back the tears she didn't realize were forming. "You're overthinking things."

She scoffed at him and folded her arms. "I'm not."

"Yes you are, because I did and kind of am still doing it, too."

She sighed then, knowing that was probably true. He had always been good at reading her, just as she was good at reading him. At least, that was the case during battles. It's one of the things that made – _make_ – them such a great team.

"Claw wouldn't be anywhere without Mask, you know. If you were to say that you couldn't do this anymore with me…" she trailed off and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She couldn't do this alone.

Before she realized what had happened, she found herself enveloped in his arms. She tensed, prepared to push him away but found that she really didn't have the energy to. "Chasca…the only way that I would leave would be if you told me to. You're my partner. I would never leave you willingly and never on my own."

Helga closed her eyes, the lump in her throat growing larger. It finally clicked for her that Arnold wasn't _Mask_ , and Mask wasn't _Arnold._ They were both one and the same and, just how she would never give up on Mask or Arnold, he would never give up on her. Neither side of her. It was a surreal feeling, one that, even if she recognized it, she would probably not be able to full grasp for some time. But now, standing here in his embrace, she realized that it was something she would eventually come to accept.

There would be no Madame Claw without The Mirror Mask, just as there would be no Helga without Arnold. And even if the latter had distanced themselves over the years, they had always really been together. This, she realized, just solidified it and made it factual. Together, Mask and Claw had been one hell of a force. And now, together in both worlds, they would be unstoppable.

As long as they were together, they would be undefeatable. Dark Matter didn't stand a chance.

* * *

AN: Welp. I guess I couldn't let this story go.

Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed Part 1. I was surprised to see the response I received from it, both in reviews and PM, and it kind of inspired me to do a follow-up.

Also, thank you to Arnold's Lover for giving me the push I needed.


	3. The Rookie

**Madame Claw and The Mirror Mask  
Chapter 3: The Rookie**

Almost a month had gone by since the moment that Helga and Arnold had come to an understanding in her room. Arnold had stayed a while, well after Miriam had wandered home and Bob blasted the TV for his nightly sports fix. They had just sat and talked on her bed, careful not to draw too much attention to themselves. Nothing was off topic. School, Dark Matter, their speculation on college…

It had been really good for the both of them. For the first time, Helga had been able to talk about her superhero life while in her civilian form, and it had felt so _relieving._ Ana, her sprite, had come out and made introductions with Arnold, as well as his sprite, Djeh. A part of her had felt giddy over it all and she could tell Arnold had a similar feeling. It had felt like she had been carrying boulders on her back for so long and they had finally been lifted off and it was just so freeing.

The next day was Saturday, exactly one week since The Reveal. They had spent the day training, exercising, and just letting loose, especially after the week they had just gone through. It was so amazing with this newfound information and even if Helga didn't know what she should be feeling, she knew that she felt light and happy after the previous day's exchange.

They spent the day together on Sunday, too. Except this time they hung out on his roof doing homework and chatting. It was surreal, spending this much time with Arnold. It blew her mind that one minute they could be debating their English reading, rather heatedly with their drastic difference in opinions, and the next making plans against Dark Matter and being completely levelheaded about it, as if the passionate exchange before had never happened.

If in public, though, they rarely discussed superhero stuffed louder than a whisper, including whilst on his roof. It was even more vital that they were careful about this stuff and risk targeting each other, their families, and their friends. Although she didn't think anything would never happen to hers, she was really more concerned about Arnold's. They were more of a target than her parents and her sister was who-knows-where. Anyone watching her knew that there was hardly any love between her and her family.

School went by normally. They went back to their normal routines, Helga eating with Phoebe and a couple of others and Arnold back to Gerald and whoever it was they hung out with for the day. Appearances meant everything and it would have been extremely weird for them to start hanging out. Maybe they could work up to that but, for the time being, this was how it needed to be.

Some time had passed since The Reveal. Things had never been better between her and Mask. Sometimes she would come home and he would be in her room, which kind of freaked her out with the whole passing-through-mirrors thing, and other times she would jump out and scare him when he walked into his own room after letting herself in through the skylight. He really should start locking that. Things had been so great that she sometimes started to question it. But one smile from Mask or smirk from Arnold squashed those feelings aside.

Now it was a relatively quiet Wednesday night. Helga had finished her homework early - one of the huge perks of your best friend being a nerd meant they supported you completely when doing homework during lunch. Whereas anyone else would have questioned her sanity, Phoebe had been delighted to be her study buddy. And so, free of homework for the night, Claw had nothing to rush her home. Which was perfect, because tonight was Claw's night to patrol alone.

In the distance, Big Barney chimed nine, signaling that her time out was coming to an end. Ten was usually her cut off, especially on school nights like tonight. Being Madame Claw typically had a physical toll on her and she liked to get a good night's rest and slept dead to the world when she over did it. And even though she had perfect attendance her entire high school career, she had been known to be late a time…or ten.

Leisurely, Claw made her way to the top of Big Barney to keep watch up high. It wasn't the highest point in the area, but it did have a nice view. Swinging to a stop, she retracted back her tail a bit but left it long enough to play with the end and leaned against the wall of the tower overlooking the town. Her left foot propped up against the wall she leaned against as she took in the evening, the hum of the clock vibrating through the brick.

Claw loved nights like this, where she could freely fly above the city's rooftops without worrying about missing schoolwork. Nights like this she could lose herself in thoughts without having to really worry about 'the bad guys.'

There had been a slight increase of minions popping up here and there, not to mention petty crime had also been on the rise, so it had been an easy decision to agree on splitting up nights. Sometimes they would rotate going solo, meeting up when necessary, and others they would go out together. While they historically did not to get involved with non-magic crime, it was hard to ignore the muggings of late. Normally one look at one half of the superhero duo would send the would-be criminals running, but there had always been the odd punk that would put up a fight. Now it seemed everyone wanted to pick a fight with them.

Tonight she had stopped only three thefts. Last year she would have thought that was ridiculous, "only three", but the last nine months or so had definitely seen a rise in that type of crime. Initially, she and Mask contemplated bored kids causing havoc during summer, but now they were halfway through the school year and it seemed to only be getting worse. It was because of that they decided to help out the local PD and intervene, with a heartfelt blessing from the chief.

She was pulled from her thoughts when her senses tingled, alerting her of a materializing Mask from behind her. She turned to face him, still playing with her tail, and lifted an eyebrow towards him. "What are you doing out?" It wasn't an accusing tone; it wasn't like he wasn't allowed out. But she would have thought that he'd like a break to focus on school stuff with the upcoming tests. He knew that if there had been an emergency, she would have alerted him through the com unit.

"To come see you, of course, Chasca." He oozed with confidence as he sauntered up towards her, his head tucked slightly down, just enough so he could mimic Flynn Rider's smolder that he used from time to time. It had been her fault he started doing it. After one boring night, they had popped in _Tangled_ and it had been her first time seeing it. She almost died laughing after the ridiculousness of Flynn's face and Arnold had latched onto it like a fly to honey.

Claw couldn't help but laugh and dropped her tail in favor of crossing her arms across her chest, not bothering to move away from the wall. "If you keep making that face, it'll be stuck like that forever."

He stopped when he reached her, stopping only when they were within inches apart. His face descended over hers and his arm rested above her head, trapping her between the brick behind her and the wall of his chest in front. "That sounds painful." His voice lowered in exaggeration as he fluttered his eyes at her, daring to move his face closer and allowing his lips to hover just over hers. "Would you kiss it to make it feel better?"

She groaned in mock disgust and pushed him away, slipping underneath his arm as she fought down the heat of her face and the sudden pounding of her heart. "You're in my bubble, Lotte."

"And you're popping mine," he pouted, once again overdoing his disappointment with hunched shoulders.

Claw snickered. "You're ridiculous." She sat on the edge next to his legs and leaned back, her arms supporting her as she once again looked out over the city. Ever since The Reveal, they hadn't brought up their feelings. Although he had toned it down, Mask did flirt with her, and, every once in a while, she would flirt back. She tried to keep things professional, though, still guarded on what would happen should Black Matter find out about them. Besides, it was just better if things stayed the way they were.

But it was hard. It was really, really hard. Especially since he continued to behave like he was. She was pretty sure he wanted her like she wanted him, which was scary and wonderful at the same time. Her childhood was reeling over their friendship and the possibility of any romantic entanglement with Arnold Shortman. Too many nights she stayed awake, playing all the what if scenarios she could imagine. Sometimes they didn't turn out very good, but the vast majority of the times, they were fantastic.

But until things calmed down, this was the way it had to be.

"Thank everything that is good that you don't pull that crap in school. What are you doing out here, anyway? You're supposed to be at home finishing up your report."

He slipped down next to her, his legs dangling over the edge to mirror hers. His arm pressed up against hers, his knee uncomfortably and deliciously close to hers, but she didn't move it. He often did things like this and she often found herself realizing how addicted she was to his touch; no amount of self-correction could convince her otherwise. "Restless, I guess. Grandma isn't doing too well."

"Oh." Usually, it was her that went out to blow off steam because of family issues; another reason why she loved being Madame Claw. She could recall Mask seeming a bit out of it some nights in the past but she had never pried. Their personal lives had to be kept as separate as possible. Looking back, she figured it may have had to do with Gertie but never brought it up. Despite the now first-hand knowledge of his grandmother's rising dementia, Claw continued to keep her questions to herself. If he wanted to talk about it, he would. And even though they felt relatively safe up here, in their little haven on Big Barney, there was still the risk of unfriendly, wandering ears.

When he didn't elaborate, she took that as a sign to change the subject. When they were alone on his roof, outside of the masks, he would talk about it then.

"So have you heard back from any colleges yet?"

"A few, yeah. But I haven't made any decisions. What about you?"

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I only applied to one and got accepted, but I don't know if I should go."

Mask looked at her in surprise. "But haven't you been dreaming of getting out of here for years?"

"Yeah, but...well...I feel like I have a duty here." She raised her hand to indicate the shiny lights of the town below. "Things are getting worse. What would happen if we were to both leave?"

Mask didn't respond; they both knew the answer to that. With the rising crime and Dark Matter without competition, Hillwood would easily fall.

And even if Helga did want to get out of there, away from her family and start a new life, the fact was she had forfeited that when she accepted Ana's offer at being Madame Claw. This was her life now. And she'd just have to make due until Dark Matter was defeated. However long that took.

* * *

This Thursday had been just like any other day. School was long and unfulfilling and she had finished her homework early, once again loving Phoebe for not giving her crap about doing it during lunch break.

School had ended not too long before and she was waiting in the hallway for Phoebe to finish up in the office. They were going to grab some ice cream at Slausen's on their way home, a treat for both acing that AP Chem test. She hadn't been really prepared for it but surprised herself by doing so well. That definitely deserved a frozen treat.

A sudden commotion of students running in one particular direction erupted, putting Helga in full-alert mode.

"Where is it?" some kid asked his friend as they ran passed her.

"She's, like, a block away! Hurry and we might be able to make it and see the fight!"

Oh, great. Definitely a minion.

Helga wasted no time racing out of there and found the quickest place to transform. Moments later, she was face-to-face with Stilt Man, a jilted circus performer.

Cute.

Not waiting for Mask to show up, she instantly started to fight the lanky performer and, by the way that she was going, she'd probably have him back to normal before Mask even showed up.

"Madame Claw!"

The unfamiliar voice distracted her long enough for her to glance over her shoulder. She jumped out of the way when a stilt-leg crashed to the ground next to her, but she had to do a double take towards the running figure heading towards her…what appeared to be a guy dressed in a blue and white supersuit not unlike hers and Mask's. She blinked, wondering if she was really seeing this.

"Look out!" The guy pointed next to her and she cursed, remembering that she was in the middle of a fight. A stilt-arm rammed into her stomach, causing her to fly backwards and land against the wall. She coughed, winded by the unexpected assault. Dammit!

Her eyes immediately glued onto Stilt Man and she struggled to stand her ground. She grabbed her tail and started swirling it in preparation to strike.

Suddenly, the blue and white guy stopped in between her and Stilt Man. "Ha!" he yelled towards the minion, gaining his attention. The guy flicked his wrist downwards and she could only stare in shock as something shot out towards their foe. When it actually hit the minion, she gawked before coming to her senses and jumping towards him as Stilt Man prepared another kick.

"Get back!" she shoved the guy to the side and threw her tail, effectively pinning his stilts to the side of his body. Claw rushed over and, a few minutes later, the minion had been defeated and was on his way back to his old life.

Claw spun towards the newcomer, furious. "What the hell was that!"

The guy, whose features were distorted from the lack of Sight, strolled up to her. It was interesting that she could See Arnold and Mask, but instantly recognized that she would not be able to really take in this guy's face from memory, as it had been for so many years with Mask. Without asking, he grabbed her hand. "Well, hello…" He exaggerated the word, elongating the ending and, oh god, was he wagging his eyebrows?

Her own twitched, especially once he started to move her hand to his lips. What the-!

She snatched it from him and took a step towards him. With her other hand, she pushed against his chest. "Ok, look here, pal. I don't know who you think you are-"

"Blue Rose."

Claw gave him a long look. "Excuse me?"

He bowed, his left arm extending far out behind him as his right hugged his middle and he introduced himself again. "I am Blue Rose, Madame. And I am very much at your service."

She groaned and rubbed her forehead. Was this seriously happening right now? Who was this joker?

"Look, kid, I really don't have time for this. Go home."

"Ah, c'mon. I just saved you and this is how you repay me?"

Claw could feel her face flush and she rounded on him again. "Let's get something straight, Puce Carnation."

"Blue Rose."

She ignored him, poking him in the chest instead. "You could have gotten yourself killed out here. You're not one of us. You're a punk in a costume that your parents probably spent too much money on," although she had to admit it did look pretty good, "and you're way out of your league."

"Actually, I _am_ like you, Madame." He grinned at her and it made her blood boil. "This suit is legit. I have a sprite and everything, just like you. She kind of came out of nowhere, but, apparently, that's what they always do, right? At least that's what I was told when she chose me."

She gaped at him, searching his face for any trace of falsity. Only she and Mask knew about the sprites, to her knowledge. At least, they had never made that public. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah! Her name is Kemsit. She told me to come and find you guys, that she's one of six and-"

Claw put her gloved hand over his mouth, scowling deeper at his stupidity. "Shut up, you idiot! Don't you know that enemies can be anywhere?"

She kept her hand there for a moment, listening for any rustling but there was just silence. Quickly, she pulled her hand away, not wanting to touch him any more than necessary.

Great. This was just perfect. Claw had been told by Ana in the beginning that there were five others just like her out there. One day they may show up, but until then, she had to fight out against Dark Matter. Then, almost literally a blink later, she had run into Mask. Two of the six had been found within the same day. She had expected the others to show up but none had. And that had been years ago.

Now it looks like a third had finally popped up.

This was just fantastic.

 _Mask, where the hell are you?_

"Ok, ok. Blue Rose. Look, this is great and all but you can't just waltz in here and start battling. You don't know how to handle yourself and Mask and I are not going to hold your hand. You're untrained, you have no idea what we're up against, and you're-"

"Dashingly handsome, yes, I know. But don't worry, I won't be a distraction for you, I promise. Especially once we get _it_ out of our systems…" he wagged his eyebrows again and reached out for her. She was taken off guard momentarily, which was enough time for him to wrap an arm around her waist.

But once she felt him touch her, she grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back, landing with an _oomph!_ Claw stood over him, hands fisted on her hips and glared down. "Do not touch me again."

"What's going on?"

 _Oh thank god._ Her head snapped up and she could see Mask walking towards them, a frown on his face and his unmasked forehead deeply creased. Her heart sped up a little bit when she saw him, as it always seemed to do with him, and her scowl lessened.

"It looks like our duo is now a trio."

Mask stopped when he reached her and looked down at her in surprise. "What?"

Blue Rose was up on his feet almost immediately and brushed his backside with a smirk. "I'm Blue Rose." He slid a little too close to Claw and she groaned, taking a step back.

"Right," Mask replied, critically eyeing him.

"Yep. Have my own sprite and everything," Rose repeated.

"Yeah, so you mentioned," Claw rolled her eyes towards Mask, but was startled when she took in his very rigid stance and a face that couldn't possibly be anger. She couldn't think off hand of ever seeing that on him before. She studied him for a moment, wishing she could get a read off of him and was surprised that she couldn't.

"So when do we start?" Blue Rose rubbed his gloved hands together, a large grin taking over his face.

"You're not starting ever if I have anything to say about it," Mask growled, surprising Claw once again. She blinked at him before turning her attention to the newcomer.

"You should go, Rookie. We need to work some things out first."

"But, I'm one-"

"Yeah, I know!" she snapped. "If you want to join us, you're going to need to change your tone and we're going to have to set some ground rules. But Mask and I need to talk about this first. Even if you are legit, we've been doing this longer than you. We'll meet you on the roof of the Fairmont on Saturday at noon. If you're a minute late, we'll already be gone. Got it?"

"But-"

"This is your only chance, kid. Take it or leave."

She could tell the guy was upset by the way he kept looking back and forth between her and Mask, and by the tension in his shoulders, but he merely nodded and bowed again. "Until Saturday, Madame." He didn't acknowledge Mask as he left and she bristled at the blatant disrespect. That was something she was going to beat out of him first.

They watched him go together and only once he had vanished from view did they set off towards the boarding house in an unspoken agreement to talk there.

And sure enough, once they landed on his roof, he was in front of her, red-faced and arms waving in the air.

"You've got to be kidding me, Claw! You can't possibly be serious in letting this guy join us!"

"It's not like we have a choice. He _is_ one of us." She tried to keep her voice low as she walked towards his room, not wanting to draw attention from anyone.

"So what? Is he even experienced? He's going to get someone killed. Maybe even us!"

Claw rolled her eyes as she dropped down through his skylight, instantly de-transforming. "Ana, this is the right thing to do, right? Even if it's stupid?"

Ana hovered around Helga, flitting about. As a sprite, she looked very much like what Helga would think of as a fairy, but with a tail and covered in black fur. "Blue Rose is a guardian, like you. And it's not a coincidence that he's shown up now. Kemsit has awoken for a reason. Maybe things are worse with Black Matter than we thought."

Helga gave crossed her arms in triumph and gave Mask a pointed look when he dropped down behind her, reverting back to his civilian clothes as he did so.

Djeh was silver and completely hairless, opposite of his female counterpart, and wasted no time zipping away from this commotion and retreating to his nest in Arnold's closest to recharge from the transformation. He was pretty quiet, especially compared to the talkative and informative Ana. He preferred quiet, darkness, and solitude over confrontation, like this.

"However," Ana continued, "you and Mask have a lot more experience than he does. And he does seem to be a little rash, kind of like how you were when you first discovered your own powers. That was when you didn't have the type of foes you do now."

"Ha!" Arnold pointed a finger at her. "I'm right. He's going to mess something up and we're going to have to focus on him instead of the minions."

She _hmphed_ in response. "Like you were any different when you first started, Football Head. In fact, I was constantly having to save your butt instead of fighting."

"Technicalities. And completely irrelevant," Arnold waved his hand in the air. "The point is, this guy is untrained and is a liability."

"So, then, by what you're saying, we need to help train him."

Arnold frowned, not liking that he had fallen into that trap. "He's too headstrong."

"Maybe we could use that on our team."

"No we can't! You're headstrong enough for us if we had ten on the team!"

Helga rolled her eyes, kicked off her shoes, and flopped onto her back on his bed as Ana also made herself scarce, knowing that they were going to need to talk this through. "Neither of us are happy about this, Arnold, but it's not like we really have any say. This is bigger than the both of us and what we feel. He was chosen for a reason and even if he shouldn't be fighting right now, it's our duty-"

Arnold snorted.

"It's our _duty_ ," she emphasized, glaring at him for his interruption, "to make sure that he _is_ ready by the time he does fight."

"I don't like him." Was he pouting?

"You don't have to. You just have to train him." Almost instantly his eyes widened and his smile slowly grew, reminding her way too much of the Grinch. She didn't need a second guess to know what he was thinking. He would train him alright, and he wasn't going to go easy.

Helga laughed and threw his pillow at him, which he easily caught, thankful for the break in tension. "Just don't hurt him on purpose. Or maim him. We still need him, don't forget."

"Of course not, Chasca." He sprawled down next to her on his stomach, the pillow he had just caught under this chest, forcing her to shift over towards his bookcase to give him some room. "I could never forget anything you tell me."

"False. You forget things all the time."

"Oh?"

She cleared her throat for dramatic effect, "'Mask, I've already told you, we're meeting tomorrow at two,' or 'Mask, what did I tell you about jumping into things head first?' or 'Dammit, Mask, stop with puns!'"

His grin never faltered. "Who said those were because I'm forgetful?"

She gave him a look. "You forget to do your homework all the time."

"Only recently, because of the training," he countered. "You do better work than me, so it's easier to copy yours and change things just enough to make it look like my own."

His serious expression made her almost believe him, but his eyes were twinkling and she knew he was lying. She rolled her eyes. "Right."

"Are you saying you don't believe me? I'm wounded."

"Oh please, get over it. Anyway, we're off topic. What do we do with Rose?"

He mentally groaned when he was brought up again. He didn't want to think about that wannabe for the rest of the night. Or ever, really. "I'll train him once every two weeks."

She lifted a brow at him. He sighed, correcting his proposal. "Fine. Once a week but not anymore."

Helga couldn't help the small laugh that slipped from her lips. "So that means you're going to leave me alone to train him the remainder of the days? Harsh."

He scowled in response, instantly tensing. "Ok, switch it. I'll do most of the training. You can pop in once a month."

"Great, then I'll have two chuckleheads to look after. This is definitely karma catching up with me for being a bully. I knew I was playing with fire all those years and I'm getting burned for it now."

He smiled and leaned his cheek on his hand, still looking at her, casually changing the topic. "This is nice."

"Confessions to a football head?"

"Us. Hanging out. It's really nice."

She smiled and nodded as her only response and looked to her left towards his bookshelf. She really did enjoy these times with him, especially since they couldn't really talk to each other in school. Sure, there were classes that they interacted in, but with the exception of that one time when they argued about their alter-personas, it was typically all about schoolwork and always with their classmates. She couldn't complain, though. It was nice that they could at least get this much time together. Anything more and Gerald and Phoebe would start to feel left out, no doubt.

"Oh shit!" She sat up so fast, her elbow accidentally struck his cheek with an echoing thud. He yelped and leaned back, holding the spot that would definitely bruise. "Oh shit!" she repeated, instantly reaching towards him. "I'm sorry!"

He groaned and dramatically fell forward onto his pillow, still holding his cheek. "I'm dying."

She scoffed and crawled over him, not quite as concerned anymore since he was cracking jokes. "You're fine. I gotta go. Phoebe's going to _kill_ me for ditching her!" And, crap, she left her bag in the hallway! It had her phone in it. She wasn't just going to get killed by Phoebe, she was going to get mutilated, sewn back together, and mutilated again.

"Good," he mumbled. "That's what you get for beating me up. Am I bleeding?" He sat up then, only after she struggled to climb over him, and dropped his hand for her to inspect his cheek.

She frowned at him. "Stop being a baby. I hardly touched you. It won't even bruise." It totally would, but she was downplaying it.

He sulked. "It hurts."

She rolled her eyes and called for Ana, who wasted no time buzzing back out, hiding in an inner pocket of Helga's jacket. "I'll text you later, ok?"

"If I'm not in the hospital, sure."

She snickered and, before she could stop herself, leaned down to gently kiss the already swollen area. "Ciao!" It was barely a graze and she turned around so quickly, leaping towards the ladder that she almost, just almost missed the shocked and then goofy expressions her partner made, causing butterflies to flutter around in her stomach at the lingering feel of his skin on her lips.

She walked right into that and willingly pulled down a wall that she should have instead been reinforcing. She was never going to hear the end of it now, but whether it would be from Arnold or her own subconscious, she wasn't exactly sure. What she did know was that his skin was softer than she thought it would be and, like always, he smelled really, really good.

It was going to be another long, sleepless, what if kind of night.


End file.
